by Steve Shoop
October 3, 2004 -- Overcoming 7 years of tiring losses,
ineffective pairings, and poor singles play, the Red team
won all 3 sessions of the 11th Concord Cup Matches to
provide captain Dennis Hackett Jr. and his squad a much
needed victory, outscoring Blue 13-7. Said Hackett, “This
should put a damper on any re-alignment rumors that were
circulating before this impressive victory.”
Impressive indeed -- a case can be made that it was the
biggest victory in the history of the cup. Red won
many matches by large margins, while Blue squeaked out most
of its victories.
During Friday’s practice round at Concord Hills, where Jamie
Grace was noticeably absent with his new clubs, Blue team
member Mike Walters flogged a mole to death on the 17th tee,
insisting that he was helping the course superintendents and
would do his part to keep the course in great shape. Walters
continued to parade the unsuspecting mole through the
clubhouse after his round and many wondered if this was not
such a good idea, said Tom Bres of the Red team, “I’m not
sure the golf gods will smile on such careless zest for
life,” adding later, “what did he use, a 3 iron? That’s too
much club…”
Saturday mornings weather proved to be just as forecast with
cloud, wind and the traditional “chill” in the air as the
Cup’s first match moved down the 1st fairway. The highly
touted Mike Walters and Blue captain, Brad Juday were taking
on Tom Bres and Mike LaMarra, both teams hoping to secure
the 1st point for their respective teams. If it was another
omen of things to come, or just better play, the Red
combatants deftly used their strokes to gain an early
advantage in the match despite Juday making an early bomb on
the 4th green to inspire an already uninspired Mike Walters. Bres and LaMarra remained in control of the match throughout
-- they were 4-under on the front nine. At the 7th
hole, Bres chipped in, and then Juday made a 25-foot putt on
top of him. At the 8th, Bres hit a huge drive, and sat
in the fairway 40 yards from the hole in net -1. Blue
continued to trail, but extended the match at 14 when Brad
Juday made a 40-foot putt. But he missed a 3-footer to
extend the match at 15 and Red won 4&3 at roughly the same
time that Jon DeAngelis and Bob Walters were soundly
handling David Best and Mark Smith and winning 5&4. Word
began to spread that the Red team had secured the 1st 2
points of the Cup and the final 3 morning matches would
prove pivotal to where the Red team stood going to the
afternoon foursome play.
The 3rd match of the morning had Mark Williams and Ron
George, who would be the only Blue team member to gain 3
points in the 2004 Cup, competing against AC Shoop and Red
captain Dennis Hackett. Williams played brilliantly.
At 5, after hitting a poor tee shot down the hill, he hit a
three wood to about 1 foot to birdie the hole. He hit
big putts at 6 & 7 and a big clutch par at 15.
AC Shoop, who had a strong weekend at 15, made a big putt to
halve the hole. In a tight and dramatic finish, Ron
holed an “impossible” putt from behind the pin on the 17th
hole to close out Hackett and Shoop 2&1 to secure Blue’s 1st
point. While watching the finale of match #3, Match #4 stood
on the 17th tee with Red 1 up. Ron George Sr. and Steve
Shoop had made a startling comeback from 4 down on the 7th
tee to wrestle control of the match away from Blue stalwart
Jeff Hackett and Concord Cup rookie, Chris Wilker. Shoop
birdied #7, Ron George Sr. made a natural par at #8 and by
the 14th tee the match was all square. Ron Sr. made a
natural par on 14 to send Red 1 up and the match remained
that way until 17. Jeff Hackett made a cunning 8 foot
bending par putt on 17 to square the match as George and
Shoop could not convert par putts to secure at least a ½ a
point for Red. Wilker, became the key on 18 and after
showing his first nerves of the match by chunking a short
iron, came back to hit a wedge stone dead at 18 and
recaptured the point for the Blue team to knot up the
scoreboard at 2-2. In the final match of the morning
round, Ed Smith and Jamie Grace took advantage of what might
have been considered the Blue’s most consistent pairing,
Denny Hackett and Tim Seelig, and won the match 4&3.
Pleased with the morning outcome, captain Hackett felt his
foursome teams were in position to hold the morning lead.
When interviewed about his expectations for the afternoon
matches, captain Juday indicated he “would be happy with 2 ½
points” from his team in the afternoon and would rely on the
strength of Blue in the singles matches to retain the Cup on
Sunday.
The foursome matches would prove to be both entertaining,
and ultimately, decisive. The Red partners for the alternate
shot format of the competition were formed with attention
to, as Hackett reiterated, “getting as many strokes as
possible.”
In Match #6, Hackett sent out his senior members, AC Shoop
and Ron George Sr., early, believing they could capture a
point against whoever they played as they would be receiving
strokes in this match. Unfortunately, Chris Wilker and Ron
George Jr. (both won 2 points on Saturday) played very well
early. After Wilker hit his tee shot from the 8th tee
to the opposite side of the 7th fairway, he hit a 40-foot
putt to make birdie on the hole; it was a dramatic swing on
a stroke hole and it led them to a 5-up lead at the turn.
The seniors would make a strong comeback to back after
AC Shoop hit a brilliant tee shot and great par putt, but
inevitably lost 3&2.
That would be the last point Blue would see on Saturday. The balance of the matches all went the direction of Red. Match 7 featured Steve Shoop and Jon DeAngelis versus Denny
Hackett and the sizzling David Best. Despite losing both Pro
VI’s supplied by captain Hackett, DeAngelis and Shoop
reigned in their wild tendencies to play a steady back nine
in closing out the Blue members on 17, 2&1. Both teams felt
like they gave away holes they should have won during key
points in the match, and clearly Denny’s shoulder was not
right. Lagging 2 holes behind, the match 8 reunion of the Ed
and Art Show (Smith and “Tom” Bres) were able to best Tim
Seelig and the truly hobbled Bumflipper himself, Mark Smith
-- Smith had broken his toe on the Thursday prior to the
matches. The match was wrestled early as Red pushed ahead
with a lead they would not relinquish, eventually winning
6&4. This victory by Ed and Art was their 5th
versus 1 defeat in Concord Cup history.
“Pasting Alert.” Match 9 never got on track for captain
Juday and Mike Walters. Mike LaMarra and Jamie Grace did
their part in destroying what appeared to be a wise pairing
by Juday. Juday and Walters had 28 victories combined coming
into the 11th Cup, and paired together, analysts felt they
would secure a couple points on Saturday. It was not to be
as LaMarra and Grace (roommates for this event in ’04)
opened daylight in winning 7&6, ensuring their names would
go down in cup history by providing a “pasting.”
(After there were no pastings last year, this year's matches
featured three).
Match 10 featured captain Hackett and “Chief Economist” Bob
Walters versus Jeff Hackett and Mark Williams. Hackett and
Walters, determined to stay away from Williams “suitcase,”
paired beautifully. Williams and Hackett, also with 28
victories coming into the ’04 Cup (30 including their
morning wins), appeared to be favorites as well, but were
unable to overcome the inspired Walters and his renewed
dedication to the game. Hackett and Walters provided a
“dagger” point for the Red team, winning 4&3. This victory,
combined with the other 3 in the foursome matches, left Red
needing only 3 ½ points on Sunday to capture their 1st Cup
in 8 years. While earning a commanding lead of 7-3
(accurately predicted by the soon-to-be-Re-team-father)
Vince Olenik, the Red team cautiously celebrated “at least”
a Saturday lead.
The onus was on Blue captain Brad Juday to format his
singles order such that he could get enough points early and
have the match-ups he relished late for a strong finish. Captain Hackett figured Juday to frontload his team and
again, tried to maximize stokes in his favor.
-
Hackett and Juday sent out (in order):
-
DeAngelis vs. Seelig
-
Grace vs. Hackett Sr.
-
Bres vs. Williams
-
E. Smith vs. M. Walters
-
George Sr. vs. Best
-
S. Shoop vs. Juday
-
AC Shoop vs. Mark Smith
-
LaMarra vs. J. Hackett
-
Hackett Jr. vs. Ron George Jr.
-
B. Walters vs. Wilker
Juday reasoned, maybe improperly so, that he would put his
only 2-0 players out last hoping they would be in position
to bring home a victory if the 1st 8 matches had a Blue
comeback positioned. However, the pairs format often yields
some lopsided results. Blue, in consecutive years in 2001
and 2002 had recorded 8 pts. and 9 pts. on the final day to
send Red home with loses. This year, the Saturday lead
combined with some exceptional play by Red, turned out to be
too much for the Blue team.
DeAngelis unexpectedly beat Seelig 8&7 to record the 2nd
pasting of the Cup, but Jeff Hackett (remaining undefeated
in Cup singles) returned the favor by registering a pasting
of his own unexpectedly against LaMarra. Just after those
finals were in, word from the last match comes in that Bob
Walters completed an undefeated Cup by pasting rookie Chris
Wilker in a cup record score of 9&7. By all accounts, the
Chief Economist would have beaten Sergio Garcia on this day
with play that captain Hackett called “stellar.” This left
Red needing just 1 ½ more points to secure the victory. Things did not come as easily for the rest of the Red team. Denny Hackett, preparing for a trip to China, needed to get
home soon and took care of Jamie Grace 3&2 signaling that
Blue still had a chance, particularly with several of the
matches tipping toward Blue still on the course. Bres
managed to find victory against Williams, and riding with
his partner, Ed Smith, who was playing Mike Walters, he
witnessed a stunning comeback which saw Ed put the final
touches on the 1st Red Team victory since 1996 by winning
the 18th hole and posting not only a 1 up victory against
Walters, but delivering Walters an 0-3-0 record in 2004. Victory in hand, Steve Shoop closed out Juday on 17 with a
birdie, in a match he never trailed, to win 2&1. Playing
partner Ron George Sr. engineered his second comeback of the
weekend, rallying from 3 down thru 6 holes against David
Best, but was unable to close out Best on the 17th or 18th
holes. Best ended up winning the match 1 up, but these 2
comebacks by George Sr. epitomize the fight that was driven
into the Red team by captain Hackett. Not to be outdone, AC
Shoop took 4 of the last 5 holes to wrestle out a victory
against “Rapidly Healing Flipper” Mark Smith, and in a
symbolic finish, captain Dennis Hackett Jr. and Concord Cup
founder came down 18 together, George able to defeat Hackett
1 up. Hackett had done his job in leading Red to victory and
George had pulled off another fantastic weekend at Concord
Hills, while going 3-0-0 as the only Blue team member to go
undefeated.
Many will record this Cup as much needed by Red, but judging
by the Champions Drink Ceremony, many of the Blue wanted to
forget the 2004 Cup and look forward to 2005. The Red team
celebrated a well deserved and dominant victory in the
clubhouse below the newly crowned Crow’s Nest at Concord
Hills on a perfect afternoon. The celebratory shots were
downed at the Joers estate, and the teams parted until next
year.
Many thanks from all of the participants go out to the Toni
and Dave, who allowed us to invade their lives once again
with undue influences of alcohol, tobacco and poker, as well
as the staff at Concord Hills.
In the end, whether it was “The curse of the mole” which
helped forecast a victory for the Red team or not, Blue
could not continue its excellence, and lost the concord Cup
by a final tally of:
Red – 13
Blue – 7